Blog

Football Books To Take Extra Time Over

29 Jun 2021

With the country once more in the grips of football fever thanks to the Euros, now is the perfect time to seek out some of the more interesting and possible overlooked books which show the economic, social and psychological angles of our most beloved national sport.   Africa United: How Football Explains Africa by Steve Bloomfield Travelling to twelve countries … Read more

Review: Lost Children Archive

25 Jun 2021

  A thrillingly ambitious novel that spotlights the cruelties and injustices of child migration from Central America to the USA. Telling the stories of one family’s road trip to the deserts of Arizona to find the homeland and memorials of the last free Apaches and the desperate train journey taken by some ‘illegal’ child migrants, Luiselli creates compelling drama and … Read more

Review: Skyborn

17 Jun 2021

  Past mysteries and present crises collide in a whirlwind adventure that explores family, friendship, and standing up for what you believe in. The Quinn Family Circus is in need of a new headline act. Ever since Bastjan’s mother died in a terrible aerobatic accident, ticket sales have been declining. Now, in desperation, the ruthless ringmaster is looking to Bastjan … Read more

Review: Crazy

17 Jun 2021

  Jane, somewhere around a mid-point in life, finds herself at a moment of reckoning. A creative writing tutor, she suffers from both an unsteady sense of conviction in her task and acute, shifting physical pains that strike at unpredictable moments. Reflecting on the formative relationships in her life, she recalls the conflicts and currents of childhood and family life … Read more

A Long Look At Hemingway

16 Jun 2021

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most important and divisive literary figures of the twentieth century – ahead of a major TV documentary series on his life, Cliff looks at his works and influence: Around fifteen years ago, I decided I would spend an entire month devoted to Ernest Hemingway. I’ve always enjoyed setting myself peculiar goals, and this was … Read more

Review: Yours Cheerfully

16 Jun 2021

If you’ve been suffering from a reading slump, this is the ideal book to get you back on a reading roll. Featuring the same cast of characters that stole our hearts in Dear Mrs Bird, Yours Cheerfully continues the tale of the spirited Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty as they navigate their way through 1941. This is Number 2 in … Read more

Middle Grade Titles Coming Our Way

25 May 2021

  We’ve been lucky enough to receive some amazing advance copies of middle grade novels for kids from our publishers recently – two due out in June and two in September! The rich breadth of storytelling in this quartet really is too good to keep to ourselves, so below we have a little summary of each and a link for … Read more

What To Read After ~ Diary of a Wimpy Kid

19 May 2021

Do you know anyone who’s devoured all the Wimpy Kid books… multiple times? Are they struggling to find another book they love as much? We’re here to help ? An obvious choice is Liz Pichon’s brilliantly illustrated Tom Gates series, Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series or Jonathon Mere’s World of Norm (illustrated by Donough O’Malley). And The Treehouse books by … Read more

A New Chapter

27 Apr 2021

As any booklover will tell you, independent bookshops strive to be at the foundation of our communities. And within the category of indie bookshops there’s another very special category: those that are non-profit and collectively-owned. Sales from our bookshop and website help to fund the provision of pioneering programmes supporting literacy, community well-being and access to cultural opportunities for all; … Read more